AGRIC,  DhN 


The 

STEWARDSHIP 
OF  THE  SOIL 


Address  by 

JOHN  HENRY  WORST 

President  of  NORTH  DAKOTA 
AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


Stewardship 
of  the  Soil 


BACCALAUREATE    ADDRESS    BY 

JOHN  HENRY  WORST 

PRESIDENT    NORTH    DAKOTA 
AGRICULTURAL    COLLEGE 


• » *  *      I  . '  •  »     '  *     "•  •  *    •    * 


Delivered  at  the  twenty  First  Annual  Commencement  of  the 

3\£prth   'Dafyota  Agricultural   College 

Fargo,  North  Dakota,  June  Sixth,  Nineteen  Hundred  Fifteen 


rV 


JOHN  HENRY  WORST 


320947 


Stewardship  of  the  Soil 


H.  WORST 


Our  ambitious  young  commonwealth,  in  con- 
junction with  other  states  comprising  the  great 
Northwest,  occupies  a  commanding  position  in 
the  industrial  and  economic  affairs  of  this  nation. 

Mines  of  gold  and  silver  or  forests  primeval 
North  Dakota  does  not  have  ;  but  from  the  millions 
of  fertile  acres  comprising  our  vast  agricultural 
empire,  we  may  reap  a  golden  harvest  every  year 
that  will  exceed  in  wealth  the  output  of  all  the 
golden  placers  in  the  western  mountains. 

The  harvest  of  minerals,  however,  can  be  gath- 
ered but  once.  Time  will  not  restore  the  precious 
nuggets. 

The  forests  once  harvested  can,  at  great  ex- 
pense, be  renewed  in  the  course  of  a  century;  but 
our  harvest  of  domestic  plants  and  animals  recurs 
with  every  passing  season  to  recompense  the 
farmer  for  his  toil  and  to  enrich  the  farmer's 
friends. 

What  a  precious  theme  is  harvest  !  The  hopes, 
the  well-being,  the  life  of  the  world  is  fast  bound 
up  in  the  magic  of  this  single  word. 

The  soil  upon  which  the  harvest  depends,  more- 
over, is  God's  benediction  to  humanity.  Measured 
by  consequences,  Heaven  has  vouchsafed  no  form 
of  stewardship  that  is  fraught  with  such  tremend- 
ous responsibilities  as  this  stewardship  of  the  soil. 
In  the  final  analysis  this  stewardship  represents 
the  farmer's  obligation  to  society. 

Page  Seven 


And  yet  sacred  as  is  the  soil  and  binding  as  is 
the  farmer's  obligation  to  society,  the  means  for 
providing  the  world's  food  is  nevertheless  at  his 
mercy. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  soil  can  readily 
be  depleted  of  its  fertility  and  thus  robbed  of  its 
strength  by  a  system  of  exploitation,  commonly 
referred  to  as  " extensive  farming."  Too  much 
of  our  land  is  being  thus  exploited.  On  the  other 
hand  the  productiveness  of  the  soil  may  be  very 
greatly  improved.  Denmark,  Belgium,  Germany, 
and  other  European  nations  have  fully  demon- 
strated that  by  the  application  of  science  to  the 
art  of  agriculture,  the  productiveness  of  the  soil 
can  be  multiplied  almost  to  the  limit  of  necessity. 

A  Progressive  Agriculture.  Fortunately  Na- 
ture has  supplied  every  means  for  the  develop- 
ment of  a  progressive  and  permanent  agriculture. 
It  is  also  obvious  that  it  is  man's  privilege,  if  not 
his  mission,  to  improve  upon  Nature — to  substi- 
tute quality  for  mere  physical  endurance,  in  agri- 
cultural products. 

By  the  grace  of  Providence  the  individuals  of 
the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  were  not  creat- 
ed inflexible  in  habit  or  perfect  in  form,  but  they 
may  be  changed  in  character  and  quality  and  in- 
trinsic worth  at  the  will  of  the  intelligent  and  ob- 
serving farmer.  To  this  end  agricultural  educa- 
tion lends  its  beneficent  influence.  Man's  dominion 
over  Nature  would  be  such  in  name  only  were  it 
not  for  the  class-room  and  the  laboratory,  for  re- 
search and  investigation;  for  by  these  means 
scientific  knowledge  is  obtained  and  diffused  and 
eventually  brought  to  bear  upon  the  solution  of 
the  most  vital  problems  that  concern  the  human 
family.  These  problems  center  largely  around 
food  and  clothing.  To  supply  these  necessities  an 

Page  Eight 


industry  is  created — the  business  of  agriculture — 
the  most  important  industry  in  all  the  world.  An 
industry  of  such  fundamental  importance,  more- 
over, should  receive  from  the  states  and  from  the 
federal  government  financial  consideration  in  pro- 
portion to  its  moral  and  economic  importance  as 
well  as  to  the  probabilities  that  may  be  entertain- 
ed for  its  continued  improvement.  For  abundant 
as  are  earth's  natural  resources,  yet  without  the 
aid  and  direction  of  human  intelligence  they  could 
not  supply  the  world's  ever  increasing  population 
with  food,  clothing  and  shelter.  Complying  with 
known  conditions  of  natural  reciprocity,  however, 
the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  submit  to 
whatever  modifications  become  necessary  in 
order  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  human  family. 

Nature's  Forces  Operate  Blindly.  Moved, 
therefore,  partly  by  necessity  and  partly  by  curi- 
osity, the  material  world  has  been  and  is  being 
continually  modified  by  the  ingenuity  of  man.  Un- 
directed, however,  Nature's  forces  act  blindly; 
hence,  produce  mainly  such  qualities  in  organic 
life  as  endurance,  or  adaptation  to  local  soil  and 
climatic  conditions.  In  the  animal  and  vegetable 
kingdoms  the  universal  demand  of  Nature  is  to 
perpetuate  their  species- — "to  produce  after  their 
own  kind."  In  accordance  with  this  law  the 
humblest  plant  or  animal  is  compelled  to  maintain 
a  perpetual  warfare  against  its  fellows  for  means 
of  subsistence. 

This  competition  for  nourishment  is  usually  so 
sharp  and  continuous  that  mere  existence  or  en- 
durance rather  than  excellence  or  quality,  seems 
to  be  the  end  and  aim  of  natural  law.  Hence,  the 
strong  survive  and  the  weak  perish. 

Beginnings  of  Agriculture.  Here  agriculture 
begins.  By  relieving  plants  of  this  intense  compe- 

Page  Nine 


tition  by  means  of  tillage,  and  by  selecting  the 
most  promising  for  domestication,  they  are  en- 
abled to  use  all  their  energy  for  the  development 
of  those  qualities  which  add  to  their  intrinsic 
value,  instead  of  expending  it  in  the  struggle  for 
existence.  Given,  thus,  free  access  to  the  soil  and 
sunshine,  with  needful  nourishment  supplied  and 
their  fungous  or  parasitical  enemies  destroyed, 
the  domesticated  plants  yield  trustful  obedience 
to  the  protecting  hand  of  the  husbandman.  Freed 
altogether  from  the  necessity  of  self -protection 
they  become  prolific  and  pour  into  the  world's 
bread  basket  in  marvelous  abundance  the  seeds— 
a  single  one  of  which  would  suffice  to  answer  Na- 
ture's law  for  the  propagation  of  species.  This 
surplus  of  yield  for  which  each  plant  has  need  of 
but  a  single  seed,  and  more  especially  this  im- 
provement of  quality  for  which  the  plant  has  no 
concern,  is  Nature's  reciprocal  reward  for  having 
given  her  children  gratuitously  that  protection 
which  otherwise  they  would  have  had  to  provide 
for  themselves. 

Nor  is  animal  life  less  susceptible  of  improve- 
ment. Between  the  animal  wild  and  the  animal 
domesticated  —  that  is  whether  Nature-bred  or 
man-bred — the  range  in  quality  is  as  marked  as 
that  which  separates  the  savage  from  the  phi- 
losopher. 

Nature  demands  only  strength,  endurance ;  but 
man  demands  quality  and  excellence,  and  he  pro- 
ceeds scientifically  to  accomplish  his  purpose.  By 
conscious  design  and  a  sort  of  mental  architecture 
the  animal  to  be  is  planned,  and  the  picture  thus 
conceived  in  the  brain  of  the  breeder  becomes  in- 
carnated in  the  form,  size  and  character  of  the 
animal.  Not  only  is  the  animal  created  with  the 
desired  quality  as  to  its  parts  and  products,  but  its 

Page  Ten 


nature  is  transformed  from  fear  and  ferocity  to 
that  of  trust  and  docility. 

For  example  the  descendants  of  the  wild  horse 
are  not  only  changed  from  vicious  brutes  to  trust- 
ful beasts  of  burden,  but  are  also  differentiated 
into  many  different  breeds  to  meet  the  demands 
of  strength,  speed  or  endurance.  Specimens  of 
such  breeds  as  the  Belgian,  Percheron  or  Hamble- 
tonian  exist  as  monuments  to  the  breeder's  art 
no  less  renowned  and  for  more  useful  purpose 
than  anything  in  Nature,  the  likeness  of  which  the 
sculptor  has  wrought  in  marble  or  the  artist  has 
transferred  from  life  to  canvass. 

From  the  wild  buffalo,  presumably,  the  ideal 
strains  of  pedigree  kine,  for  beef  or  dairy  prod- 
ucts, have  been  created  as  surely  and  even  more 
scientifically  than  the  sculptor  has  immortalized 
his  ideals  in  granite  or  marble. 

Thus  animal  life  is  to  the  skillful  breeder  as 
clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter,  and  though  a  su- 
persensitive  and  artificial  generation  may  look  up- 
on this  form  of  genius  as  vulgar,  it  nevertheless 
is  God's  work  and  the  doers  thereof  are  working 
with  God.  For  without  this  incarnation  of  quality 
into  plant  and  animal  life  the  world's  population 
could  not  supply  its  fundamental  wants  nor  could 
civilization  rise  above  the  animal  instincts  in  man. 

The  farmer,  therefore,  is  a  most  important 
personage,  and  his  vocation  the  most  absolutely 
needful  in  all  the  world.  The  farmer  is  in  very 
truth  a  creator,  certainly  a  co-creator,  improving 
Nature  by  the  aid  of  science,  just  as  the  human 
mind  and  character  are  improved  by  means  of  edu- 
cation. And  when  the  prejudice  of  the  ages  has 
been  rolled  away  the  name  "farmer"  will  rank 
among  the  most  envied  names  that  enrich  our 

Page  Eleven 


mother  tongue.  Here,  indeed,  may  be  verified  the 
saving:  "The  first  shall  be  last  and  the  last  shall 
be  first. " 

While  we  honor  the  sculptor,  the  painter  or  the 
poet  whose  genius  partakes  of  the  immortal,  and 
yet  satisfies  no  hungry  -mouth,  some  degree  of 
honor  might  well  be  given  to  this  other  sort  of 
genius  which  lias  multiplied  human  food  beyond 
computation  and  has  otherwise  so  largely  miti- 
gated the  burdens  of  life. 

Vocational  Education.  From  the  foregoing  it 
is  little  wonder  that  the  education  of  the  masses  is 
surely  and  rapidly  gravitating  from  the  classical 
to  the  utilitarian,  from  the  formal  to  the  vocation- 
al. The  world's  work  must  be  done,  and  as  those 
whose  stewardship  is  the  soil  are  compelled  to 
render  a  combined  physical  and  mental  service 
in  order  to  discharge  their  social  obligations,  they 
are  entitled  to  education  in  harmony  with  the 
tasks  awaiting  them,  to  the  end  that  they  may 
work  intelligently,  hence  joyfully. 

Agriculture  and  engineering,  therefore,  are 
fundamental  vocations  when  considered  either 
from  the  view-point  of  necessity  or  the  country's 
prosperity.  By  many,  however,  the  spiritual  well- 
being  of  a  people  is  considered  paramount,  and  in 
a  sense  it  is,  but  a  cheerful  soul  seldom  inhabits 
a  naked  or  hungry  body. 

As  food,  clothing  and  shelter  are  absolute 
necessities,  no  degree  of  culture  or  religious 
enthusiasm  can  render  them  less  needful. 
Heaven's  choicest  physical  gift,  the  soil,  provides 
the  means  for  acquiring  these  indispensable  neces- 
sities, and  the  vocation  that  accepts  the  respon- 
sibility of  its  stewardship  ministers  to  the  physic- 
al, as  educators  minister  to  the  mental,  or  the 
clergy  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  man.  Moreover, 

Page  Twelve 


in  the  order  of  Nature  the  physical  takes  pre- 
cedence, being  primary  and  basic,  and  until  legiti- 
mate physical  wants  are  supplied  neither  mental 
nor  spiritual  food  can  be  satisfactorily  assimi- 
lated. 

A  commonwealth,  therefore,  that  educates  her 
children  in  due  proportion  to  and  in  harmony  with 
the  demands  of  her  principal  industry,  acts  the 
part  of  wisdom.  In  this  the  state  becomes  the 
servant  of  both  present  and  future  generations  by 
training  her  children  for  the  conservation  of  Na- 
ture's gifts,  while  yet  multiplying  their  use  for  the 
comfort  and  happiness  of.  all  the  people.  If  the 
clergy  would  preach  occasionally  from  the  book  of 
Nature,  they  would  discover  a  proximity  to  and 
dependence  upon  God  enjoyed  by  him  who  sows 
and  reaps,  who  cultivates  animals  and  flowers, 
who  creates  things  and  works  miracles  as  his 
ordinary  life  work,  which  few  others  can  enjoy. 
Such  themes  might  not  only  be  expounded  with 
profit  to  those  who  work  their  fellowmen,  but 
should  also  be  impressed  betimes  upon  those  who 
work  the  soil  for  the  good  of  their  fellowmen. 

The  Paramount  Problem.  The  paramount 
problem,  therefore,  is  to  make  the  conditions  of 
rural  life  desirable — to  convert  farming  into  an 
enjoyable  vocation;  to  make  farm  life  and  its 
labors  a  business  to  be  envied  and  not  despised. 
The  fact  is,  planning  for  beauty  and  comfort  in 
the  city  has  progressed  far  and  away  beyond  the 
country.  It  now  but  remains  for  the  country  to 
catch  up  and  go  the  city  many  times  better.  This 
is  entirely  possible,  since  the  great  "out  doors" 
is  a  country  heritage  and  ample  spaces  are  avail- 
able for  exterior  delights  such  as  trees,  shrubbery 
and  flowers,  and  for  free  access  to  abundance  of 
pure  air  and  sunshine. 

Page  Thirteen 


Moreover,  we  should  not  forget  that  we  are 
now  living  in  a  new  world.  The  old  agriculture 
and  its  associated  rural  industries  have  been 
shaken  to  their  very  foundation.  This  makes  the 
solution  of  the  rural  problem,  to  some  extent, 
speculative. 

For  one  thing  the  country  is  becoming  urban- 
ized. This  may  prove  helpful.  Again  it  may  not. 
Individualism,  however,  is  giving  place  more  and 
more  to  commercialized  enterprise.  At  the  same 
time  the  evils  of  transient  tenantry  follow  close 
upon  the  heels  of  successful  farming,  where  farm- 
ers rent  their  land  and  move  to  town;  and  also  of 
unsuccessful  farming,  where  the  mortgage  shark 
eventually  becomes  possessed  of  the  land.  What 
the  state  needs  to  encourage,  therefore,  is  farm 
ownership  by  the  many  rather  than  by  the  few, 
and  farm  ownership  rather  than  farm  tenantry. 
We  must  retain  on  the  farm,  as  farmers,  the  best 
type  of  American  manhood  and  womanhood  or 
the  nation  will  fall  into  decay,  just  as  Rome  fell 
with  the  decline  of  her  agrarian  influence. 

The  consolidated  country  school,  by  rendering 
obsolete  the  one  room  district  school  house,  is  a 
progressive  step  toward  improved  educational 
facilities  for  rural  children. 

The  country  church,  on  the  other  hand,  has  be- 
come more  decadent  than  aggressive.  This  among 
other  rural  agencies  is  not  organized  in  propor- 
tion to  its  importance.  Some  progress,  however, 
is  being  made  by  means  of  social  organizations, 
but  the  ultimate  solution  of  the  rural  problem  de- 
pends more  largely  upon  education  than  upon  any 
other  single  factor. 

Rural  Social  Leaders.  Rural  social  leaders  in 
full  sympathy  with  the  country  life  movement  will 
find  here  a  fruitful  field  for  earnest  endeavor.  To 

Page  Fourteen 


no  class  should  the  state  look  for  such  leadership, 
and  with  so  much  assurance,  as  to  the  alumni  of 
its  Agricultural  College.  Educated  at  public  ex- 
pense and  in  an  institution  of  higher  learning  that 
stands  specifically  for  all-round  rural  improve- 
ment and  rural  patriotism,  the  students  that  go 
out  from  this  college  cannot  misinterpret  their 
duties  nor  fail  to  understand  the  responsibilities 
they  assume  as  graduates  of  the  North  Dakota 
Agricultural  College.  Nor  is  their  field  of  labor 
an  unenviable  one.  It  may  at  times  seem  irksome, 
even  discouraging,  but  nevertheless  it  is  the  most 
exalted  and  dignified  calling  to  which  men  and 
women  of  special  training  and  culture  can  aspire. 

To  rescue  the  soil  from  the  indifference  and 
greed  and  selfishness  wherein  this  generation  un- 
wittingly robs  succeeding  generations  of  their 
rightful  inheritance,  and  to  rescue  the  very  voca- 
tion of  agriculture  from  mercenary  interests  is 
a  mission  worthy  of  the  best  leadership  and  pa- 
triotism of  our  day.  But  it  must  not  stop  even  at 
this.  The  public  welfare  demands  that  nearly  half 
the  population  of  the  entire  country,  and  certainly 
four-fifths  of  the  population  of  this  state,  shall 
permanently  pursue  agriculture  for  a  livelihood. 
This  vocation,  therefore,  must  be  made  so  desir- 
able and  satisfying  that  that  number  will  joyfully 
accept  it  as  a  matter  of  free  choice.  It  must  be 
so  developed  that  it  will  afford  an  unsurpassed 
market  for  energy  and  brains,  and  so  independent 
of  parasitical  interests  that  when  two  bushels  of 
wheat  are  grown  where  one  now  grows  the  pro- 
ducer will  receive  the  benefit. 

Increased  Production  Not  Sufficient.  Hither- 
to the  agencies  for  rural  improvement,  both  state 
and  federal,  have  directed  their  energies  chiefly 
toward  increased  production.  And  this  with  but 

Page  Fifteen 


scant  consideration  for  profits  that  should  be  real- 
ized by  the  producer  as  a  result  of  the  larger 
yields.  Material  prosperity,  however,  is  not  a  suf- 
ficient motive,  except  where  it  assuredly  is  used 
to  improve  the  moral  and  social  conditions  of  the 
community  life.  To  double  the  yield  of  crops 
without  doubling  the  enjoyments  of  living  and  im- 
proving home  comforts  accordingly,  will  avail  but 
little  toward  developing  rural  conditions  that  will 
withstand  the  competition  and  false  allurements 
of  the  city. 

Urban  Degeneracy.  A  nation's  strength,  more- 
over, is  a  matter  of  blood  and  brain  fiber.  Urban 
degeneracy  is  an  accepted  biological  fact.  The 
dissipation,  lack  of  physical  exercise  in  the  open 
air,  and  high  pressure  living  and  working  leaves 
in  its  trail  a  progeny  diminishing  in  numbers  and 
decadent  in  those  high  qualities  essential  to  good 
government. 

Democracy,  as  a  permanent  institution,  how- 
ever, is  not  yet  an  assured  fact.  The  experiment 
of  self-government  is  still  in  the  making.  Its  per- 
petuity cannot  be  predicated  upon  scheming  trad- 
ers, money  brokers  and  political  manipulators, 
but  must  depend  in  the  last  analysis  upon  the  solid 
phlegm  and  conservatism  of  its  rural  districts 
where  men  are  too  busy  with  productive  labor  to 
scheme  for  political  office  or  unearned  wealth.  In 
other  words,  and  I  speak  it  with  sincerity,  the 
rural  population  conserves  the  real  dependable 
life  blood  of  this  nation.  It  is  an  accepted  fact 
that  in  every  crisis  of  our  country's  history  the 
rural  population  was  not  only  on  the  side  of  right, 
but  ready  to  defend  the  nation's  honor  with  their 
votes  or  with  their  blood. 

When  the  nation's  debt  was  appalling  and 
money  poured  into  the  national  treasury  in  but 

Page  Sixteen 


feeble  currents,  the  tariffs  that  replenished  it 
again  were  borne  like  a  young  Hercules  by  the 
farming  class,  though  they  received  but  a  mini- 
mum of  its  protection.  Every  influence,  therefore, 
that  tends  to  exalt  agriculture  as  a  profession, 
and  farming  as  a  desirable  mode  of  life,  whether 
it  be  intellectual,  political,  ethical  or  spiritual,  is 
for  the  general  welfare. 

The  time  is  not  far  distant,  let  us  hope  and 
pray,  when  agriculture  will  cast  off  the  thralldom 
of  the  ages  and  assert  her  own.  But  not  until  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  the  country,  trained  for 
rural  social  and  industrial  service,  as  you  are  be- 
ing trained,  assert  an  aggressive  leadership,  with 
genuine  patriotism  for  the  needs  of  the  open 
country,  will  the  domination  of  ulterior  interests 
be  removed  and  agriculture  made  free  to  manage 
its  educational  institutions  and  business  affairs, 
in  part  at  least,  for  its  own  good. 

The  Rural  School  Problem.  Since  education  is 
the  governing  factor,  especially  so  far  as  it  directs 
the  attitude  of  rural  children  toward  rural  condi- 
tions, the  country  school  should  be  so  redirected 
and  revitalized  as  to  "stir  into  action  community 
forces  which  are  now  dormant ;  and  to  make  the 
rural  school  a  strong  and  efficient  social  center, 
working  for  the  upbuilding  of  all  the  varied  in- 
terests of  a  healthy  rural  life." 


' '  The  redirection  of  rural  education  means 
that  the  school  is  to  abandon  its  city  ideals  and 
standards,  except  as  these  are  adaptable  to  rural 
as  well  as  to  city  schools,  and  to  develop  its  in- 
struction with  reference  to  its  environment  and 
the  local  interests  and  needs.  The  main  efforts 
of  its  instruction  should  be  to  put  its  pupils  into 
sympathetic  touch  with  the  rural  life  about  them, 
in  which  the  great  majority  of  them  ought  to  find 
their  future  homes." — Cubberley. 

Page  Seventeen 


The  away-from-the-farm-influence  of  rural 
education  which  has  in  the  past  proved  a  serious 
handicap  to  rural  progress  and  open  country  pur- 
suits, would  thus  be  materially  counteracted. 

Quoting  Cubberley  again: 

* '  The  uniform  text-books  which  have  been 
introduced  by  law,  were  books  written  primarily 
for  the  city  child;  the  graded  course  of  study  was 
a  city  course  of  study;  the  ideals  of  the  school 
become,  in  large  part,  city  and  professional  in 
type;  and  the  city-educated  and  city-trained  teach- 
ers have  talked  of  the  city,  over-emphasized  the 
affairs  of  the  city,  and  sighed  to  get  back  to  the 
city  to  teach.  The  subjects  of  instruction  have 
been  formal  and  traditional,  and  the  course  of 
instruction  has  been  designed  more  to  prepare 
for  entrance  to  a  city  or  town  high  school  than 
for  life  in  the  open  country.  So  far  as  the  school 
has  been  vocational  in  spirit,  it  has  been  the 
city  vocations  and  professions  for  which  it  has 
tended  to  prepare  its  pupils,  and  not  the  voca- 
tions of  the  farm  and  the  home." 

Then  says  Roosevelt : 

' '  Our  school  system  is  gravely  defective  in 
so  far  as  it  puts  a  premium  upon  mere  literary 
training  and  tends,  therefore,  to  train  the  boy 
away  from  the  farm  and  workshop.  Nothing  is 
more  needed  than  the  best  type  of  an  industrial 
school,  the  school  for  mechanical  industries  in  the 
cities  and  for  teaching  agriculture  in  the  country. 
No  growth  of  cities,  no  growth  of  wealth  can 
make  up  for  any  loss  in  either  the  number  or 
the  character  of  the  farming  population.  We  of 
the  United  States  should  realize  this  above  most 
other  people.  We  began  our  existence  as  a  nation 
of  farmers,  and  in  every  crisis  of  the  past  a 
peculiar  dependence  has  had  to  be  placed  upon 
the  farming  population,  and  this  dependence  has 
hitherto  been  justified. ' ' 

The  Rural  Church  Problem.  No  permanent 
rural  civilization,  however,  can  be  maintained  that 
will  attach  the  population  to  the  soil  with  satis- 
faction and  contentment  without  provision  being 
made  for  enjoying  religious  services  among 

Page  Eighteen 


people  of  their  own  kind  and  class.  This  necessi- 
tates a  social  and  religious  center  for  every  rural 
community.  The  church  can  and  should  be  made 
such  social  center.  For  economic  and  social  rea- 
sons, however,  denominationalism  can  well  be  dis- 
pensed with,  as  such,  and  just  plain  Christianity 
substituted  for  sectarianism.  A  social  center  thus 
maintained  will  stimulate  neighborly  intercourse 
and  satisfy  the  demands  of  both  young  and  old 
for  religious  culture,  for  recreation  and  pastime. 
Where  schools  are  consolidated  the  school  house 
and  grounds  will  answer  for  all  gatherings 
whether  for  worship,  for  the  discussion  of  civic  or 
neighborhood  problems  or  for  recreation  and 
amusement.  For  without  such  neighborhood  in- 
tercourse, life  deteriorates  into  a  dull  routine, 
and  the  moral  and  religious  tone  of  a  community, 
degenerates.  Moreover,  under  such  conditions, 
young  people  become  disgusted  with  its  monotony 
and  aimlessness,  and  seek  city  employment. 

But  before  the  country  church  can  be  made  an 
efficient  community  force,  pastors  must  be  found 
or  created  that  meet  the  conditions  of  country  life. 
A  most  excellent  city  pastor  might  prove  to  be  a 
regrettable  misfit  in  a  rural  community.  More- 
over, the  modern  clergy  seem  quite  as  prone  to 
herd  in  the  towns  and  cities  as  the  rest  of  man- 
kind, which  fact  has  a  bad  influence  on  the  youth 
of  the  country. 

Quoting  from  Eural  Life  and  Education :  t '  The 
rural  minister  needs  economic  and  agricultural 
knowledge  more  than  theological,  that  he  may  use 
the  economic  and  agricultural  experiences  of  his 
people  as  a  basis  for  the  building-up  of  their 
ethical  life;  he  needs  educational  knowledge,  that 
he  may  direct  his  efforts  with  the  young  along 
good  pedagogical  lines;  and  the  church  as  an  in- 

Page  Nineteen 


stitution  needs  to  study  carefully  the  rural-life 
problem,  and  to  plan  a  program  of  useful  service 
along*  good  educational  and  sociological  lines.  Un- 
less this  is  done,  the  church  will  bear  but  little 
relationship  to  a  living  community;  its  influence 
on  the  young  will  be  small;  and  its  mission  of 
moral  and  religious  leadership  will  be  forgotten 
by  the  "people." 

Oilier  Agencies  for  Rural  Improvement.  In 
addition  to  providing  country  schools  and  employ- 
ing rural  school  teachers  as  efficient  as  the  bes-t 
in  the  towns,  and  the  country  church  reawakened 
and  converted  into  an  efficient  institution  for  prog- 
ress, the  Grange,  farmers'  clubs,  the  Y.  M.  and 
Y.  W.  C.  A.,  the  rural  library,  boys  and  girls' 
clubs,  farmers'  institutes,  woman's  clubs,  literary 
and  debating  societies  and  amateur  theatricals,  of 
which  the  Little  Country  Theatre  is  the  best  ex- 
ponent, can  with  profit  be  incorporated  into  the 
life  of  every  rural  community  that  maintains  a 
social  center,  and  that  takes  genuine  pride  in  mak- 
ing country  life  what  the  possibilities  so  readily 
warrant. 

No  one  of  these  separate  organizations,  even 
though  fullv  developed  and  earnestly  supported, 
will  altogether  satisfy  the  needs  of  a  community. 
No  one  of  them  should  be  over-emphasized  for  its 
own  sake  alone,  for  each  is  but  a  part  of  the  com- 
munity need.  All  are  needed.  The  friends  of  each, 
therefore,  should  work  for  all  and  all  work  for 
each,  and  becoming  thus  federated,  they  will 
prove  to  be  a  positive  force  and  establish,  beyond 
question,  a  community  spirit  satisfactory  to  old 
and  young  alike. 

A  sufficient  number  of  these  rural  social  insti- 
tutions to  meet  the  changed  conditions  of  modern 
life  is  as  essential  as  a  progressive  and  highly 

Page  Twenty 


contented  agriculture;  for  without  such  institu- 
tions agriculture  will  decline  until  on  a  level  with 
the  peasantry  of  other  and  less  favored  countries. 
For  just  in  proportion  as  agriculture  advances  or 
declines  will  the  prosperity  of  the  people  rise  or 
fall,  and  the  integrity  of  our  government  be  stable 
or  questionable.  This  fact  has  been  clearly  demon- 
strated in  the  history  of  nations ;  hence,  steward- 
ship of  the  soil  embraces  not  only  conservation  of 
its  fertility,  but  the  fostering  of  such  social  in- 
stitutions and  educational  forces  as  may  be  neces- 
sary to  support  a  rural  civilization  that  will  min- 
ister to  all  the  physical,  mental  and  spiritual  wants 
of  a  highly  intellectual  and  permanent  population. 
Said  James  A.  Garfield :  ^ 

"The  higher  education  of  the  village  and  city 
youth,  together  with  a  modicum  of  the  country 
youth,  with  only  the  fifth  to  eighth  grade  for  the 
best  blood  of  the  state  may  stand  for  the  edu- 
cator's ideals,  but  it  is  bad  for  the  country  as  a 
whole.  It  tends  to  make  aristocrats  of  the  poorest 
and  slaves  of  the  best  blood.  Education  is  for 
all,  not  for  a  favored  few." 

The  Morrill  Act.  The  Morrill  Act  of  1862  was 
the  first  important  step  toward  the  emancipation 
of  agriculture.  The  establishment  of  the  Land 
Grant  Colleges  was  the  biggest  piece  of  construc- 
tive legislation  that  Congress  has  enacted  during 
the  past  century.  By  means  of  higher  education 
thus  redirected  and  vitalized,  industrial  inde- 
pendence will  ultimately  be  realized.  But  the  work 
moves  slowly.  However,  in  spite  of  ridicule  and 
unmerited  handicaps,  and  even  the  contempt  of 
too  many  of  the  farming  class,  these  institutions 
have  grown  steadily  in  influence  and  power. 

The  North  Dakota  Agricultural  College  directs 
its  energies  toward  a  system  of  education  that  at 
once  affords  all  the  means  of  culture  and  character 

Page  Twenty-one 


building  that  collegiate  courses  of  study  can  offer, 
yet  without  departing  materially  from  giving 
special  emphasis  to  those  subjects  which  are  di- 
rectly related  to  the  homes  and  the  chief  industry 
of  the  state. 

The  purpose  is  not  only  to  increase  production 
as  a  means  of  profit  and  to  render  helpful  social 
service,  but  to  make  farm  life  and  rural  conditions 
so  agreeable  and  satisfying  that  the  choice  of 
agricultural  pursuits,  on  the  part  of  educated 
young  people,  will  prove  as  popular  and  inviting 
as  that  of  any  other  industry  or  profession.  This 
is  not  an  impossibility.  From  an  educational  view- 
point no  vocation  exceeds  agriculture  in  the  ma- 
terial available  for  calling  out  the  best  there  is  in 
man,  spiritually  or  intellectually.  From  a  social 
viewpoint,  the  country  represents  the  purest  and 
most  neighborly  sympathies.  And  from  an  in- 
dustrial viewpoint  it  is  the  state's  support  and 
should  be  the  state's  pride.  North  Dakota  will 
expand  in  wealth  and  influence,  therefore,  in  pro- 
portion as  she  throws  wide  open  the  door  of  agri- 
cultural opportunity  for  the  young  people  of  the 
state.  This  she  can  best  accomplish  by  means  of 
public  education  expressed  in  terms  of  rural  life. 

After  twenty  years  of  service  as  President  of 
your  Agricultural  College,  I  find  that  my  chief 
gratification  comes  from  having  associated  daily 
with  a  loyal  and  dependable  faculty  and  with  so 
many  clean,  ambitious  and  sympathetic  young 
men  and  women. 

In  you  and  the  thousands  of  Agricultural  Col- 
lege students  scattered  over  this  and  adjoining 
states,  many  of  them  having  already  won  enviable 
distinction  by  their  public  services,  and  all  giving 
evidence  of  most  exemplary  citizenship,  I  not  only 
take  sincere  pride  but  also  find  my  chief  reward. 
Others  may  scheme  for  wealth  or  fame,  but  for 

Page  Twenty-two 


one  at  my  time  in  life,  I  would  not  exchange  the 
friendship  of  the  Agricultural  College  student 
body,  past  and  present,  for  earthly  riches  or  per- 
sonal honor. 

I  have  implicit  faith  in  the  future  of  our  Agri- 
cultural College  as  I  have  in  this  great  agricul- 
tural state.  Her  broad  acres  are  being  rapidly 
occupied  by  a  progressive  and  enterprising  hus- 
bandry. Her  cities  and  villages  keep  pace  with 
her  rural  development.  The  dreams  of  the 
pioneers  are  fast  becoming  realities.  The  erst- 
while home  of  the  red  man  and  the  feeding  ground 
of  the  bison,  are  destined  soon  to  be  thickly  dotted 
over  with  luxurious  farmsteads,  made  beautiful 
by  the  arts  of  civilization  and  prosperous  by  the 
skill  and  industry  of  a  happy  and  contented  rural 
population. 

Students  of  the  Agricultural  College,  your 
mission  lies  in  this  direction.  Your  influence  up- 
on the  future  development  of  this  state  will  be  as 
certain  as  it  will  be  beneficient.  The  door  of  op- 
portunity stands  ajar,  inviting  you  to  enter  and 
share  the  blessings  that  reward  the  industrious 
and  reap  the  honors  that  crown  the  lives  of  those 
whose  stewardship  has  been  faithfully  kept.  May 
no  temptation  ever  swerve  you  from  loyalty  to  the 
cause  which  your  alma  mater  represents.  Too 
often  the  enemies  of  industrial  freedom  capture 
with  the  blandishments  of  vanity,  the  trusted 
leaders  of  reform 

Let  your  hearts,  therefore,  ever  beat  true  for 
the  best  there  may  be  in  store  for  those  whose 
sweat  fertilizes  the  business  of  the  state.  The 
cause  of  the  people  should  ever  be  your  cause,  and 
having  received  your  education  largely  at  their 
expense,  spare  not  a  generous  service  in  return 
for  the  academic  honors  that  now  await  you. 

Page  Twenty -three 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


